Birmingham City urged to beat Wrexham AFC to Swansea City transfer coup | OneFootball

FLW's Birmingham City fan pundit has given his verdict on the club's interest in Swansea City defender Harry Darling

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Birmingham City and Wrexham are both competing to sign Harry Darling this summer amid a likely exit from Swansea City.

According to Alan Nixon, the defender has interest from both of the teams that earned automatic promotion from League One this season.

The centre-back is coming to the end of his current contract with the Swans, so could be available as a free agent. The Welsh club, who finished 11th in the 2024/25 Championship campaign, reportedly proposed an increased offer to Darling earlier this month in a bid to convince him to commit his long-term future to SA1, but that has not yet been accepted and it appears increasingly likely he will move on this summer.

Darling made 39 appearances for Swansea in the season just gone, and has been an ever-present since his arrival from MK Dons in the summer of 2022.

Birmingham City urged to beat Wrexham to Swansea's Harry Darling

When asked about the club’s interest in Darling, FLW’s Birmingham fan pundit Mike Gibbs explained how it’s a deal he’d like to see come to fruition.

He believes the defender will provide strong competition at centre-back, and would give Chris Davies the path to having four solid options to choose from in the Championship.

“I think Harry Darling would be a really good signing,” Gibbs told Football League World.

“I can see [Krystian] Bielik moving on.

“Obviously, Grant Hanley’s contract will be up, I can see Dion Sanderson moving on and Ben Davies’ loan has ended, so there’s a question mark over whether that’s turned permanent.

“[Christoph] Klarer and [Phil] Neumann will be the starting two, but you’re going to need competition for places and I think Darling would be fantastic at that.

“I think my pick would probably be Darling and Ben Davies.

“I think, as we saw at the beginning of this season, we started off with Dion Sanderson in the team, Klarer was on the bench, Davies came in he had a bit of bench time and both of them worked their way into the team and basically played their way into the starting XI week-in and week-out.

“So, [Chris] Davies gives people a chance, and if they’re up for the battle they’re going to get their chance, so that would be a really strong four for me: Klarer, Neumann, Bielik and Darling.”

Birmingham won the League One title under Davies this season, earning a record points tally of 111.

Potential Harry Darling signing has promise for Birmingham City

Darling has plenty of Championship experience, and has performed well at that level for three years now.

He is also set to become a free agent, meaning the cost of a deal will be reasonably low.

It would bolster Birmingham’s defensive options, and give Davies competition to choose from in the second division.